


the sweetest devotion i’ve known

by hotcuppa



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Skywalker Family Feels, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:10:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26330137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotcuppa/pseuds/hotcuppa
Summary: leia comes bounding up the hill, training saber still in hand. at the sight of her, anakin starts to smile, starts to ask where luke is. but then hefeelsit, feels the distress and the pain before leia can even open her mouth, and he’s on his feet before he even realizes he’s stood up.
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 16
Kudos: 53





	the sweetest devotion i’ve known

**Author's Note:**

> title from sweetest devotion by adele
> 
> also i might have gotten some details wrong, pls forgive me, it’s been a while and i unfortunately don’t know everything :(

anakin tilts his head back, lets the sun wash over him and warm his skin. it’s a lovely day on naboo, warm and clear, and anakin could almost fall asleep to the sound of the nearby water and the pelikki that were fishing in it. 

padme is on coruscant for the day, in the naboo embassy doing senatorial work. anakin had been a bit nervous to be left alone with the children—not that he thought he wasn’t capable of caring for them, because he knew that he was and he’d done it before—but it’s simply easier to care for twins when you have your partner to help you. 

especially with luke. leia is typically the more fiery and feisty one, but she’ll listen to nearly anything anakin says if he words it correctly. luke, however, is so connected to his mother that he gets weepy and fussy when she isn’t around for too long. and as much as padmé reminds anakin that it’s important to leave luke so he can get over his separation anxiety, anakin would much rather she stay so he doesn’t have to hear luke cry when she leaves. it breaks his heart too much, he can hardly bear it. 

this afternoon, though, after only one padmé-related cry from luke, anakin had managed to distract him. or, rather,  _ leia  _ had. he’d brought out the training sabers and leia had insisted that luke ‘train’ with her, and they’d taken off into the gardens soon after. luke’s giggling, happy as though padmé had never crossed his mind, echoed from behind the trees every now and then, warming anakin’s heart more than the sun ever could. 

he’s just started to think about what to make for dinner, only just brought his caff up to his lips for a sip, when leia comes bounding up the hill, training saber still in hand. at the sight of her, anakin starts to smile, starts to ask where luke is. but then he  _ feels  _ it, feels the distress and the pain before leia can even open her mouth, and he’s on his feet before he even realizes he’s stood up. 

“luke’s hurt!” she gasps out, eyes wide and concerned. anakin knows it must be serious if leia is afraid, because leia is a tough little girl, and if it wasn’t anything bad then she would’ve made luke get up and walk it off. “we were just playing, daddy, and he fell and—”

anakin crouches down, tries to control his own panic so as to not upset her. “princess, can you tell me where he is?”

leia points over at the tree line and barely gets the words  _ in the forest clearing _ out before anakin takes off, running to the trees faster than he’s ever run before. he can still feel luke’s pain, and as he grows closer, he realizes he can hear luke’s crying. 

he finds luke laying in the grass in the clearing, crying and holding his leg, training saber discarded. anakin drops to his knees next to his son and uses his flesh hand to gently cup his little cheek, brushing away tears with his thumb, while his other hand starts assessing the leg for serious injuries. 

“what happened, sunshine?” anakin asks, forcing his voice to be light and calm and gentle, hoping luke will pick up on that feeling instead of his panic. luke just blubbers, sticking his leg into anakin’s hand. anakin finally takes a proper look at it, and his stomach twists at the sight of blood. 

“leia made me fall,” luke sobs, “my foot twisted and my leg hit the thorn.”

anakin glances down at luke’s ankle and notices, immediately, the swelling. he pushes luke’s pants up, and sees that the thorn of a nearby brassvine had clearly cut luke’s leg—nothing too deep, but enough to send a five-year-old into hysterics. anakin takes a deep breath, reminds himself that this isn’t so serious, and places one hand over luke’s ankle and the other over the open wound on his leg. he closes his eyes and focuses, passing on some of his life energy to luke, until his wounds are healed. 

luke is small, so the healing only makes anakin a little more tired than he was previously. when he removes his hands, luke sits up, watery eyes surveying his leg. “daddy?” he asks, clearly confused, and anakin takes the opportunity to scoop him up into his lap, hugging luke close to his chest. 

“that’s called force healing,” anakin explains, hoping that the water in his voice isn’t coming through. “i’ll teach you how to do it one day, when you’re bigger.”

“when i’m a padawan?”

anakin smiles, presses a kiss into luke’s hair. “if you decide you want to be a padawan when you’re bigger, then yes. when you’re a padawan.” he sets luke down on his feet, and then rises to his own. “come on, let’s go find leia.” he takes luke’s hand in his own, and walks back to the house with him. 

after that, it’s like it never happened. at least, to luke and leia. they run around in the garden (but not past the trees, by anakin’s new rule) and chase each other around the house. anakin finds himself wondering what it’s like to be so young and so carefree. 

when it gets dark, anakin gets them dinner and then into bed. luke always goes to bed easily, but leia always forces anakin to read to her or tell her stories. tonight, anakin tells her stories from the clone wars, sparing all the ugly details. anakin would never admit it out loud, but he likes telling leia these stories because he likes the way she always looks at him afterwards. like he’s her hero. 

when leia finally falls asleep, anakin quietly tiptoes out of the room. he stares at luke’s door and tries to resist the urge to go check and make sure he’s okay, because luke will wake up, and then he won’t go back to sleep until padmé has come to see him. and anakin isn’t sure if padmé is even returning tonight. 

but he still feels a little panicked. as much as he knows luke’s earlier wounds weren’t anything serious, he can’t help but feel as though he’s failed his son. if he’d only been watching more closely, if he’d gone to the clearing and gotten rid of the brassvine before allowing his kids to play there, if only he’d  _ been a better father.  _ the children never get hurt when padmé is with them.

anakin takes one last long look at luke’s door before going to his and padmé’s bedroom. he doesn’t sleep, because his mind is so filled with worry for both his son and his wife, so he just stands at the window and meditates to try and clear his mind. with his flesh hand, he gently floats a durasteel sphere, and tries to focus on that. 

but he finds himself unable to meditate properly, because there’s something dark in the back of his mind. 

when padmé comes home, it breaks anakin’s concentration. not because she’s loud; in fact, if anakin couldn’t feel her force signature, he’d have never known she was standing behind him. but as it is, he just gently places the ball down, and then locks his hands behind his back. 

“good evening, my love,” he says quietly. “i wasn’t expecting you tonight.”

padmé comes up closer behind him, and when anakin doesn’t tell her to move away, she slides her arms around his waist and then presses her cheek to his spine. anakin removes his hands from behind his back and instead places them over hers where they’ve interlocked on his abdomen. 

“i don’t like spending nights away from you when it isn’t necessary.” anakin hums. “is something wrong?”

for a moment, anakin considers keeping the truth from her. not because he fears her reaction, but because he fears disappointing her. but he supposes leia will regale all of the details, and it’s better to come from him now than for her to find out later that anakin had kept such a thing from her. 

“luke got hurt today,” he says. padmé tenses instantly, beginning to withdraw from the embrace, so anakin quickly spins around in her arms and holds her close to him. “he’s alright. there was some brassvine in the forest where he and leia were playing. he tripped and it cut his leg, but i healed him.”

padmé blinks up at him, both confused and concerned. “brassvine? isn’t that—”

“native to haruun kal? yes. i have plans to go clear it in the morning. i would’ve done it this evening, but…”

at his hesitation, padmé gently slides her hands from his back, up his chest, to rest gently on his face. “what is it?” she asks gently, her voice warm and smooth like the zingbee honey from coruscant. 

“i should’ve been watching them more closely,” anakin murmurs, dropping his forehead to rest against his wife’s. “they’re so little, i don’t know why i thought they would be okay on their own. luke never would’ve gotten hurt if—”

“hey,” padmé soothes, “it isn’t your fault. getting injuries from play is just a part of growing up. if anything, luke and leia are very fortunate to have a father who can simply heal them whenever they are injured.” she smooths her hands across his cheeks, and he hopes that she can’t feel the tremble of his fingertips where they rest on her waist. “you’re a good father, ani.”

“am i?” anakin asks, pulling back from the embrace and taking a step away, facing out the window once more. “luke can’t bear when you leave, padmé. he doesn’t want to be left alone with me.”

“he’s five years old, anakin, he’ll grow out of it. or have you forgotten that leia is the same way with you?”

“but it isn’t the same,” anakin protests. “he’s five years old and force sensitive. leia doesn’t panic when i leave, or cry when you try to hold her after i do. luke must feel something in me, something he doesn’t like.”

padmé comes in front of him, forcing anakin to look at her and focus on her. “you spend too much time in that head of yours, ani,” she tells him, her voice so hard that it almost sounds like a scold. “luke loves you. you’re his father _.  _ he tells me all of the time that he wants to go the temple on coruscant and be a jedi  _ just like his daddy.  _ a little bit of separation anxiety doesn’t mean you’re a bad father.”

anakin doesn’t get to respond, because they’re interrupted by the sound of their door creaking open and little footsteps echoing through the room. anakin spins around to see luke standing there, eyes wide and teary, and once again his heart sinks. 

padmé steps around anakin, hurrying over to luke and kneeling in front of him. “what is it, my sweet boy?” she asks, and luke steps into her arms and rests his head on her shoulder. 

he doesn’t speak, so anakin says, “nightmares.” 

that’s what he was feeling, when he was unable to focus on his meditation earlier. he was feeling luke’s nightmares. he curses himself again, for not paying attention.

luke blinks up at him when he says it, and raises his head from his mother’s shoulder. “bed with you?” he asks, and neither padmé nor anakin have ever been able to say no to either one of their children. 

so they put luke in the middle of the bed to wait while padmé and anakin prepare for bed, too. once they settle in together, padmé on one side of luke and anakin on the other, anakin prepares for a night of insomnia. luke will curl up with padmé, and without being able to hold padmé, anakin won’t be able to relax enough to sleep. not after today’s events. today’s  _ failures.  _

“goodnight, mommy,” luke whispers, after padmé whispers the sentiment to him. padmé presses a kiss to his cheek, and then tells him to say goodnight to anakin. 

luke scoots closer to him, laying his head on anakin’s chest and facing up at him. anakin wraps an arm around luke’s body, and leans down to kiss his head. “goodnight, sunshine,” he murmurs. 

“goodnight daddy.” anakin drops his arm open, expecting luke to crawl back to padmé. 

instead, luke just sits up, and lays down with his head pillowed on anakin’s shoulder, body curled up towards anakin’s chest. anakin wraps his arm around luke’s back, holding him close, and then glances over at padmé. 

she smiles at him, and anakin can’t hold back his own blinding smile. “he loves you,” padmé whispers, before closing her eyes. “and i love you, too.”

anakin looks at his wife for only a moment longer, and then turns back to his son, who has clearly started to associate anakin with comfort and safety after the healing today. 

or maybe, he thinks, as padmé’s breathing evens out and luke begins to snore, luke just loves him. 


End file.
